How long can you keep cotton/poly thread? I have 100s of spools some over 40 years old. They are kept out of sunlight in plastic storage boxes made for thread. I have heard of the tug test where you take a strand and see if it will break easily but that didn't work for me.
About 2 years ago I made pajamas and used a basic blue thread from my stash. Maybe a year later the seam started disintegrating. Fortunately this item was in the family and not a gift to someone else. Even now that spool of thread will pass the tug test. So which spools do I throw away?
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Have been known to use up some old reels through the overlocker but generally it's one spool at a time so therefore the other three threads are newer ones and haven't had it come back at me yet................... touch wood!
6833I use old thread for basting. If it breaks, no big deal....I can just take a few more stitches, although most of the time it doesn't affect the project. I wouldn't use it to sew garments or quilts.
2465How old is 'old'??
I have threads which I had in my tiny sewing box before I married.... 55 years ago.... and sometimes I use them for small projects - none of them hold enough thread for large projects..... and I have some of my mother's threads, too. I wouldn't use hers now, though, because they have memory and antique values to me. Those old cotton reels, as well, smell so deliciously of childhood sewing fun, dolls' dresses and dolls' beds made from chocolate boxes and Mum's lace scraps. I've warned my 'toss-it-out' daughters that they can do what they like with it all when I'm gone but until then it's hands off!!!
I haven't had any trouble with using threads several years old generally and maybe I'll just lucky, but like Noah, I just couldn't throw away old threads.
I don't really think that thread 2 years old should create any problem. I did wonder if the thread of the seam might melt if it were ironed with a hot iron. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw and you managed to get thread from a faulty batch that had imperfections along it.
Darned disappointing though to have a garment come apart like that.
AlmaG.
1 comment
by sewmom
17 May 2013
I have a few that are over 50 that I inherited and I won't throw away. I would say most are 25 -30 years old that I worry about. I don't worry as much about the more recent threads that are made differently.
17214well i have no clue but i COULD NOT throw away thread !!!
1 comment
by sewmom
17 May 2013
I know. It's part of my stash! Anybody can come to me for mending and I have the right color.
360641I assume after 8 or 10 years, it has served its time. When I bought my new sewing machine, I threw out all my old threads from 1974-84 and started again! It was very freeing. (Yes, I didn't sew all those intervening years except to mend.)
1 comment
by sewmom
17 May 2013
I'm thinking of hitting Joanne's when they have a 40% or 50% thread sale to start re-stocking colors. There's a 40% this weekend that's why I'm thinking about it.
66908Wish I knew. I love old thread, just not sure if I would use it. I use old fabric a bit.
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